Everywhere I turn

It's so funny, since I've decided to do this everywhere I turn I seem to hear stuff about the health benefits of joy/thankfulness/optimism/etc.. Just yesterday I took my mom to the doctors office and had to wait forever and I can across like THREE magazine articles on the subject. Then got home last night and God TV was on and just walking through the living room I caught them talking about Paul and Silas in jail and how in the midst of their darkest moments they began to praise God and their praise set them free.

So this got me thinking a bit. When God would send the Israelites to war, it wasn't those who were going to be doing the fighting who were on the front lines, it was the worshipers. There's so many places in the bible it talks about in your darkest times, in the worst part of the storm, that's the place to begin to praise God for His faithfulness, to worship Him because of who He is, to remember! Because when we remember His faithfulness and what He's done for us in the past and how He's never failed us and so far we've never been left to die in a storm, then we grab hold of something tangible in the spirit realm and we pull it into our now! It's exactly what we do when we read the word. We read (and remember) the faithfulness of God for others and the promises that were made to us in those times and we grab hold of those promises and our faith grabs hold of who God says He is and we hold on for dear life and expect God to come through because 'He's not a man that He should lie'!

Now I'm not stupid. I know, at least for me, the LAST thing I feel like doing in the midst of a crap storm is puttin a smile on my face and tellin God how amazing and faithful He is, because honestly when it's really bad, it feels like He's already failed me, or He's just given up on my situation and walked away. But there's got to be something deep inside me, that has nothing to do with my heart or my head. It's that place where the rivers of Living waters that flow so easily when things are going good have slowed to a trickle. It's got to be the Spirit inside of me making intercession for me in my weakness.
 
^{Romans 8:26} Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. ²⁷ Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
²⁸ And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.

It's not an easy thing, but it has to be a choice. Not a feeling. But I believe, at least for myself, that if I will make the (numb) decision to begin to praise and worship in my darkest hour that He's going to meet me. That His spirit inside of me will begin to rise up and go hard to work removing those stones that have dammed up those rivers of Living water inside of me. I have to believe that. Because that's faith, and that's what I've got, it's all I've got!

So today I'm thankful for Truth! I have the joy of knowing that I have something inside of me to grab hold of when I'm homeless, when the bank account is empty, when I feel alone, when things feel completely hopeless and it seems there is no future or vision. I have joy. I have something that this world we live in CANNOT offer you. I have promises that were staked on a man's life. They are good to take to the bank. I have hope, even when I don't feel it...because He said I have a HOPE and a FUTURE. And if you read above He promises that ALL things work together for the good of those who love Him. And love Him I DO! And it's true, because I've hated some of the things I've gone through, but I wouldn't be who I am, or married to the amazing husband I have, I wouldn't have the heart or determination I have if I hadn't walked through the hard times and if those things hadn't 'worked together for my good'! I have more than all the money in the world combined could ever give me, in my God! I'm grateful that I have a way to pull myself out of the hard times. As David said, 'I will strengthen myself in the Lord. He was good at that, and I want to be the same. I'll end with this, in Psalms 13 He starts out being honest with God (which is fine), but by the end, his cicumstances haven't changed, he's simply made a decision to trust in God's faithfulness.

¹ How long, O LORD ? Will you forget me forever?
       How long will you hide your face from me?
 ² How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
       and every day have sorrow in my heart?
       How long will my enemy triumph over me?
 ³ Look on me and answer, O LORD my God.
       Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death;
 ⁴ my enemy will say, "I have overcome him,"
       and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
 ⁵ But I trust in your unfailing love;
       my heart rejoices in your salvation.
 ⁶ I will sing to the LORD,
       for he has been good to me.

My Heart is Satisfied

 (Really has nothing to do with the blog...just a little humor for your health)

So apparently (not really 'news' cause we've all heard it for years) being cheerful and having an optimistic outlook on life are supposed to have lots of healing and health benefits, emotional and physically. So hears to reaping some benefits, cause today is one of those days that this whole 'challenge' is not coming so easy.

WooHoo Lacey! Day 3 and already struggling.

I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed I guess. But I'm grateful......ummmm, grateful fooooor, uh. Just a sec, it's coming......

Ooooh, I know! I'm grateful that I was blessed with the personality I have. I'm not scared of having my own opinions and stubbornly clinging on to them even if they're different for everyone else's. Sure it causes a little trouble now and again but on the good side, I think it's kept me from alot of insecurities and being swayed by a disgustingly politically correct world with lots of opinions on how you should do everything. When I've made up my mind about something I'm confident in it. And I'm grateful for that. I tend to be a 'glass half full' kind of person. Not all the time and not in everything, but I think those things were created in me as I was being knit together by the hands of God.  God made me a strong and confident woman. I don't really have a list of tangible and circumstantial things to be grateful for today (Not that I don't have them, I have lots to be grateful for, I just haven't listed them today) but I think these tools that God has equipped me with have been of enormous value to me in difficult times. I don't know that I could have walked through some of the storms I've walked through and come out the same.

So I'm grateful! I may not have a massive smile on my face today, but my heart is satisfied.

A challenge to myself

 

  It amazes me that the people that seem the happiest aren't those who have the most money, things, or have everything going right in their lives, but it's the people who have decided to put on their rose colored shades in life. It's really just a matter of perspective.

  The truth is the economy SUCKS, this season has been hell and the worst part is that it doesn't seem to be over.  But everywhere that I turn these past few months it seems like I keep having this subject of thankfulness, blessing, and praise thrown in my face. I was listening to a message the other night and the guy said, 'God is not most moved by need, if He were India would be one of the wealthiest nations in the world.'  Sometimes I think to myself, 'surely God must see how bad things are and feel bad for me' but I forget He's waiting to see how I respond to how bad things are. There are so many people I see that don't have much but they are so grateful, always talking about how good God has been to them. I was even thinking about a family I know of (the Hingers for those that know them) whose home caught fire recently. They were able to stop it before it got too serious, but it still burned through their roof. The first thing I read about it they were thanking God for His faithfulness....it didn't burn their whole home, they weren't injured, etc...but honestly if it were me, in the midst of this season I can't say I'd react the same. I'd probably be like what the heck?!?! Why couldn't God keep our house from catching fire in the first place, and right before Christmas?? Anyways you catch my drift.

  Here's what I'm getting at it seems that God blesses a thankful heart more than a grumbling one. And a thankful heart seems more willing to give, happier, and more content with life. Right now I've got alot of things to feel sorry for myself about, but then again when I decide to change my perspective and my expectations, I can see that I'm really blessed. So I'm going to make the effort to change the way I look at things and try to find a way to be thankful for everyday and the things affecting me each day.  Cause I keep forgetting that when God took the Israelites out of Egypt they didn't walk straight into the promised land. There was a journey to get there, and even when they got there (finally! because all their grumbling held them up quite a few years) there were still battles to fight to claim the land, things weren't perfect, but God had told them the land was theirs so they knew going into the battles that they already had the victory. I've got to stop thinking that things will one day be perfect, that things won't take work, that there will be a day with no troubles or battles, but that I'm blessed because when God sends me somewhere He's there with me, that my battles are not going to get the better of me. I have promises! Timing is another issue, for another day ;-)

Here are a couple verses about being told to be thankful:

Colossians 2:7

1. rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
   
   
2. Colossians 3:15
   Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.
3.  Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
   
   
4. Hebrews 12:28
   
   Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe,
   
   
   So today I am thankful because I really had a desire to be able to buy gifts for my family last year but we couldn't afford anything, but this year God has blessed us with work so that I've been able to buy everyone a little something. It feels really good to be able to give. For so many years growing up I got so used to receiving, but since being married to Erik I have learned more about the joy of giving in a year than I've learned in a lifetime.  He  has taught me so much about being smart with money and still having a heart to give.  I love that when we don't have money to buy things for others we have our time to give, I'm so thankful that he's broken me out of some really childish and selfish mindsets. I'm thankful for such a wonderful husband!